Avancini, Nikola

(1611–86)

   Devotional writer.

   Avancini was born in Bretz near Trent and joined the Jesuit Order in 1627. He had a highly successful career, was Rector of several colleges and was appointed Provincial of the Austrian Province in 1676 and Assistant-Principal of the German Province in 1682. He was a prolific writer, but is now chiefly remembered for his Vita et Doctrina Jesu Christi ex Quattuor Evangelistis Collecta (‘The life and doctrine of Jesus Christ collected from the four evangelists’). This is an anthology of daily meditations. It has become a spiritual classic and is still widely used today.

   Nikola Avancini, Vita et Doctrina Jesu Christi, edited and translated by K.D. Mackenzie (1937).